Greg- I came here looking for something else and did not expect to see this. That said – I am glad that with your wide readership you posted it. I found it stunning – as I said on my facebook page, heart-stopping.
Respecting life encompasses many things and gun violence is a part of that.
I grew up around guns and I can tell you that even in the most responsible home, accidents, tragic ones, can happen.

It is beautifully filmed.
However… I think the tagline ‘kill the gun’ is idiotic. A gun is an inanimate object and can’t be killed. To spend time, energy or attention blaming objects for crime is a waste. Instead of fighting against guns we should fight against criminals.

Greetings Mary Martha,
I respectfully disagree with you. As I had mentioned in my comment, I grew up in a house where guns were present. Even with the most responsible and respectful hands dealing with them, accidents can happen. In our case, no life or limb was lost, but still.
Guns fall into the wrong hands all the time – not of criminals but often in the hands of kids or perhaps adults who use them in the heat of the moment. Life can not be restored.
Criminals should be the focus, but gun laws need re-examining. If people want to hunt, that is their choice. The common use of handguns and semi-automatic weapons have nothing to do with respect for life as I understand it.

Interesting imagery and amazing slow speed photograpy to bring out a message. However, based on the ballistic effects on the multiple targets, the relative size of the bullet, and the typical hardware used for this type of effect, the video attempts to compare apples and oranges. These bullets are being fired from a high-powered “big game”-type rifle and not the handguns associated with gun violence. A round such as a .460 Weatherby would have a muzzle energy of 7420 ft*lbf compared to 246 ft*lbf for a .38 Special; just over 30 times the ammount of energy! Even if we wanted to compare with an assault rifle such as an AK-47 we are still looking at 5 times the energy.
Please note that I am only referring to the facts contained in the video an not the message or politics.

Fran,
With all due respect, you are simply wrong. Responsible and respectful gun owners do not violate any of the rules of gun safety. Gun accidents do not occur without a minimum of 2 of those rules being broken. Anyone involved in a gun accident is not, by definition, respectful of or responsible with firearms. So what happened at your house either wasnt an accident or the shooter wasnt a responsible and respectful gun owner.
Child gun accident statistics, when you account for the CDC’s manipulation (defining a “child” as under the age of 24, and including all shootings involving that age range, when most of the shootings categorized as such were not accidental discharges, but rather intentional shootings in pursuit of criminal activities by the 16-24yo set) is still ridiculously lower than, say, auto accidents and swimming pool drownings. Further, adults who use any weapon, including a gun, in the heat of the moment (outside obvious limited circumstances for military and LEOs) is a criminal. I’ve been in the heat of the moment a number of times. I’ve had handguns and long guns both at my ready disposal. I’ve never shot another human being, but I might just be genetically immune to the mind-control rays they are fitting the newer firearms with.
Jerry,
yes, nuclear weapons are, indeed, inanimate objects. As such, they cannot be killed, as Mary Martha pointed out.
(Leave it to the blue-hairs…)

Jerry – Thank you for informing me that I am “wrong” and filling our comment with lots of statistics. This is what bothers me about conversation in the blogosphere, one is constantly being trumped with what is “right.” The other Your Name avoids personal opinion but loads up on numbers.
Life is life is life. All sorts of statistics can be quoted to justify (or tear down) anything.
I originally posted the video because of an accident that I witnessed. Despite what you say, accidents do happen even with responsible people. That is why they are called accidents.
It makes me very sad that such a thought provoking video and a commitment to life generated this comment thread. It says a lot about us as human beings.
Peace to all.

No, Fran, gun accidents simply do not happen with responsible and respectful gun owners. Rules for safe firearm handling are long established because they work. It is a simple matter of fact that no weapon can accidentally discharge without breaking a minimum of 2 of those rules. If someone accidentally discharged a gun in your family, no matter how responsible you might [ersonally judge that person, they are an irresponsible gun owner, period, because they had to break 2 of 12 long established rules in order to discharge the gun.
As for the other “Your name”s statistics, he’s just pointing out the video is dishonest. I haven’t seen it myself, being unable to access video from this computer, but the destructive difference between a service .38 and a Weatherby MkVI are so vast that any layman can immediately note the difference.
Essentially, it would seem your position is dictated by emotion, and precious little else, even though the Good Lord gave you a capacity to reason as part of the Imago Dei. It saddens me too, to see that.

By the way, I find it highly unchristian that you would, for a moment, question another’s commitment to life for pointing to errors. I know some believe that when a cause is just, anything can be justified, even bald-faced lies.
But they can’t. And I’ll take you more seriously when you call for an end to cars, which kill ever so many more people every single day. But then, how would you get across town for a hand of canasta, huh?

As this is the internet, I can only say that what I hear from you Franklin, is pure judgment. Perhaps I am wrong. I also believe that I am being insulted.
For the record, I was not questioning your – or anyone else’s – commitment to life.
As I said – too much anger and no room for discussion or respect. I will not entertain that and will simply terminate my part of this conversation and wish you peace.

No, Fran, gun accidents simply do not happen with responsible and respectful gun owners.
That is either a statement made in breathtaking arrogance and ignorance or it is a deliberate lie. I think it likely is the former.

Fran is right. Accidents, or accidental discharges, simply do not happen with responsible gun owners.
An accident has to involve some ones negligence to occur. Following simple gun safety procedures one can learn at a hunter’s safety course or NRA safety event with Eddy Eagle will prevent these things from happening.
Saying otherwise shows an individual with little to no fire arms experience.
As a former Marine, avid hunter and shooter, I fail to see how an “accident” can happen if all aspects of safety are being followed. It is impossible.
I challenge anyone to explain to me how an accident can happen with any gun while being used properly, safely.
I am all for stopping the senseless violence on the streets that cause the death of so many young people.
Going on the tract of saving innocent lives, more people are killed from drunk drivers than guns.

The fact is that it requires one to be personally responsible for the results of their own actions if we admit that a machine functions as designed. So it ismuch easier to blame an evil piece of metel than admit we did not take the precautions which are reasonable. It then follows that all others must be prevented from using the machines, because their continued safe use of the arms, clearly points to our failure. So, its simply human nature to deny that we are the ones who could have saved a life, any life. Our priorities can be quite odd really.

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